Sunday, October 31, 2010

There's this speech in the movie Frida that kind of reflects my perception of marriage + weddings.

I don't believe in marriage.

No, I really don't. Let me be clear about that. I think at worst it's a hostile political act, a way for small-minded men to keep women in the house and out of the way, wrapped up in the guise of tradition and conservative religious nonsense. At best, it's a happy delusion - these two people who truly love each other and have no idea how truly miserable they're about to make each other. But, but, when two people know that, and they decide with eyes wide open to face each other and get married anyway, then I don't think it's conservative or delusional. I think it's radical and courageous and very romantic.

To Diego and Frida.

Here are some shots from my own friends radical,courageous & very romantic weddings.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

As you may or may not know,I have been single for about 3 or so months now.Being single has always been highly entertaining for me,it allows you to delve into situations that you just can't get access to when you're in a relationship,quite obviously,but it also leaves for quite a few memorable moments.

I thought I'd start compiling a few random tiny stories on my blog about singledom moments,the shitness of my dating life that have made me [and my friends] laugh.

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DATING STORY # 452

Out of curiousity,I joined a dating site.

My 2 most favourite mens so far is the 82 year old guy who said he likes "foot tappin' tunes" & the 30 year old heavy metal guy with a mullet who said "I'm shithouse at sport,but I like scaring bats at night...I guess that's a sport".

QUALITY MENS!!!!

DATING STORY # 218

FUCK YOU BLUEBOTTLES & your bitchass tenticles!!!!

Later,whilst waiting in a long line at the checkout of Woolies a guy standing in front of me asked me on a date.

Little did he know that a couple of hours earlier,I had pee'd on my bluebottle stings ALA Man VS Wild with Bear Gryls

Thursday, October 21, 2010

I'm super crap at updating this blog,even though I do love the little dear.

Here is an update of a kind.

My two best friends & I adore the Australian womens fashion label,MINK PINK. I love it because their designs & fabric are always a little quirky + their prices aren't too steep + their sizes & cuts are always a little generous [for us big girls] & the clothing design themselves are flattering on all body shapes from size 8 to 14-16.So,Mink Pink get mega thumbs up.They've also released their new range of swimwear + sunglasses,oh yeah.

I spotted this dress today from their new range & I am in love with it.I think I want to marry it.Look at that Aztec inspired goodness....sheesh,man.

Friday, October 15, 2010

One thing I hate about clothes shopping is trying clothes on. It bores me. I’d rather look at the item and go "I LOVE IT!”, purchase it and leave the store...I'm kinda a "guy" in those terms. I have no patience for...

"oh I'll ring my boyfriend and see what he thinks I should do.... I’ll have to think some more about it...I'll try it on 50 times until I bust the seams of it"...

My theory is if you like it, you buy it. If you need to think about it then it's probably not what you want. I also don't like it when shop assistants come tapping on the doors asking if you're ok for sizes etc.I don't like being harassed, I just want to be left alone. I don't need somebody to sell me something. If I want it, I’ll get it. If I don't want it, no amount of sales pressure can crack me. Actually, trying-on and buying clothes is really stressful for me. Haha.

Today my Mum made me try clothes on.

So I hesitantly wandered off to the change rooms, my arms loaded with a variety of clothing and sales assistants eyeing me off.

As I fumbled around in the changeroom, trying to fit this skirt on I yelled out at the top of my lungs...

After a pilgrimage to SPOTLIGHT to buy some buttons, I have come back with a story. I like stories.

Whilst perusing the buttons making a choice and than moving onto the fabric, a little girl ran past me. She was probably only about 5 or 6 years old, had dark curly hair and gigantic brown eyes…so so so CUTE, but that’s not the point. This little girl was wearing a BATMAN costume [sample of costume,left]. It was a grey Lycra full suit with black outer “undies”, boots, belt and the BATMAN symbol on her chest. She was totally in BATMAN-mode and didn’t really care about anything else.

I stared at her and thought, “That little girl is SO rad”.As she ran past me again [singing "NA-NA-NA-NA-NAAA BATMANNNN BATMANNNN BATMANNNNN!"], she saw me looking at polka-dot fabric that was black and yellow. She stopped next to me and said “HEY! That’s the colours of BATMAN!” and I said “Yeh! It is too” realising she was correct. She curiously asked me “Do you like BATMAN?” glaring at me anxiously hoping I did like BATMAN too and I replied “YEH! I love BATMAN; I have BATMAN comics, T-Shirts and some other stuff…. I think he’s way better than SPIDERMAN or SUPERMAN”. Her cute cow eyes almost blew out of her head due to the excitement of talking to somebody who was as enthusiastic about BATMAN as she was.

She stood there for about 5 minutes talking about BATMAN. For a girl that was around 6 years old, she knew A LOT about BATMAN. She knew all the characters, she knew about the story plot and she even recited phrases from the movie. During mid-sentence about how she wished she had a bat mobile to go to the beach in, she stopped and looked at the hoodie I was wearing. She read the words printed on my hoodie “MY PIRATE AD…. ADVENTURE”. Once again, her eyes popped out of her head and she almost yelled at me “I LOVE PIRATES!! DO YOU LOVE PIRATES TOOOO??” and I said, “I think Pirates are the best people on earth!!” and she replied “I LIKE HOW PIRATES GO ARRRRR ME MATEYS!”

I stood there listening to her continued Pirate-accent speech and thinking to myself“If only abducting a child wasn’t illegal and morally wrong….”.

One of my favourite things in the universe is stumbling upon something special & unique,Nga Waiata is that.

This small jewelry label is from New Zealand & compromises of rings hand-crafted from different types of New Zealand & Australian recycled wood,finished with crystals or stones.I'm a fan of chunky & organic looking jewelry & these rings are both.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Yesterday we were read this little story during our end of session mindfulness exercise.I hadn't heard it before & personally I found it to be really great in terms of being mindful of the moment and not judging it,but also the story itself brought on a sense of "happily-sad" within me so I thought I'd share it.

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Like a leaf we have many stems

by Thich Nhat Hanh

I was in a park on an autumn day and was sunken into the contemplation of a very small, but beautiful leaf, formed like a heart. It was almost red in color and hung on a branch, short before falling off. I spent a lot of time with it and asked several questions to the leaf. I found out that it was like a mother for the tree. Usually we assume that the tree is the mother and the leaves are the children, but as I looked at the leaf I recognized that the leaf is a mother for the tree as well.

The sap that the roots send up contains only water and minerals, which are not sufficient for the nourishment of the tree. The tree sends the sap to the leaves, which turn the raw sap into ripe one and send it back, with the help of sunlight and gas, to nourish the tree. Therefore the leaf is like a mother for the tree. Since the leaf is connected to the tree through the stem, the communication between both is easy to see.

We have no more stem that connects us to our mother, but as we were in her womb we had the umbilical cord, a very long stem. The oxygen and the nutrients that we needed were delivered to us through that stem. On the day of your birth it was cut, though, and we fell into the illusion that we started to become independent.

This is not true. We did in fact depend on our mother for a long time afterwards. And we have many more mothers. The Earth is our mother. We have a multitude of stems that connect us to Mother Earth. There are stems connecting us to the clouds. When the clouds stay away, we don't have water to drink. We consist of at least 70 % of water and the stem between the cloud and us is really existing. The same is true for the river, the forest, the forest worker and the farmer. There are hundreds of thousands of stems connecting us to everything in the cosmos, carrying us and enabling us to exist. Do you see the connection between you and me? If you are not here, I am not here as well. This is so. If you are not able to see it, look closer, and you will notice.

I asked the leaf if it was afraid, because it was autumn and all the other leaves fell down. The leaf said to me "No. During all of spring and summer I was very much alive. I worked hard and helped to nourish the tree, and now much of myself is in the tree. I am not limited to this form. I am also present in all of the tree and when I return to the ground I will continue to nourish the tree. Therefore I'm not afraid. When I leave this branch and sail to the ground, I will wave at the tree and tell it "I will see you again soon."

On that day, the wind came and after a while I saw the leaf part from the tree and float down to the earth. It was dancing happily, because while still floating it saw itself already present in the tree. It was so happy. I bent my head and knew that I have to learn a lot from this leaf.

(From a collection of texts by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.)

If the text reads awkward in some place, it is not the fault of the author, but of the translator, myself.
Eilthireach

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

After 8 years of working my ass off,creatively vomiting over thousand of metres of fabric,working into the early hours of morning sitting behind a sewing machine,multiple tailors scissors going blunt,carting around boxes of garments,selling all over the countryside & even making it to Brazil,connecting me with beautiful [& asshole] people in the fashion industry,fun times,making many friends & a long,fruitful life....my little clothing label,EILLIM has passed away.

I've been thinking about it for a while & just today came to the decision to say goodbye to EILLIM.I've had so many fun [& fucking trying] times creating EILLIM & wanted to say a GIGANTIC THANKYOU!!!!! to everybody & anybody who has ever supported EILLIM & me,along the way.

I'm working towards making some changes in my life for next year & want to concentrate on that.Plus my heart just isn't in it anymore & I don't want to keep going with something I'm not passionate about any longer,especially since it's a creative endeavour & requires 100% commitment & dedication.I don't know exactly where I'm going to go next,but the number 8 is my favourite number because it's infinite & I thought it would be nice to end EILLIM at 8 years.

Creativity is part of who I am,so it's not an end,it's just a goodbye & I look forward to future possibilities to create.